The Comune of the City of Todi will host a personal exhibition of the paintings of Prof. Breda C. Ennis from the 11th of June 23rd June (2011) in the magnificent Sala dell’Arengo of the Palazzi Comunali. The show will be inaugurated by the Irish Ambassador to Italy, H.E. Pat Hennessy and the Mayor (Avv. Antonio Ruggiano) has contributed a written welcome for the Catalogue. Patronage has been given by The City of Todi, The Embassy of Ireland, and The American University of Rome. A direct collaboration has been given by the Associazione Culturale TODIVIVA and it’s President, Maurizio Giannini.

Todi is one of Italy’s most famous centres of culture and a large number of American and English diaspora live in the area. The exhibition will include 24 art works using the techniques of oil on canvas, mixed media and soft and oil pastels. The subject matter of this exhibition is reminiscing about trees and people and the cross link between nature and man.

View the exhibition catalogue

Opening hours:
Inauguration: 18.00 11th of June
Monday to Friday 16.00-20.00 Saturdays & Sundays 10.30-19.00 Tel: 333 966 9689

I was recently promoted to Director of the newly formed Fine Arts Area of The American University of Rome. This new area of study in the university was launched by a Fine Arts Day, held on December 1st. The day comprised an exhibition of student work and an evening Benefit Concert by the Amazing Grace Gospel Choir (sponsored by the University) for Unitalsi and a convent for orphan girls.

UNitalsi is an organization which helps sick children and their parents. Art students participated in fund raising and a food drive.

Here are a few photos of the FINE ARTS DAY art show of 1st Dec and the concert.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Michelangelo Merisi better known as Caravaggio. As one of the great masters of Western Art, his life was also shrouded in tales of sex and violence, making him also one of the most notorious. Professor Breda Ennis discusses the awaited exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome which brings together his greatest works from around the world. (Link)

The World Seen From Rome

Making Spaces to Meet God

Interview With Irish Professor on Sacred Art

By Carmen Elena Villa

ROME, JULY 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Building a church or monastery is a task that requires more than blueprints and construction materials, since the finished product is a refuge where man goes to encounter eternity, according to artist Breda Catherine Ennis.

Ennis, professor of Fine Arts at the American University of Rome and the European University of Rome, and host of Vatican Radio’s “Art on the Air,” spoke with ZENIT about sacred architecture. She said that the culminating moment in building a church or chapel is when it is consecrated, since at that point “it goes from being a work of man to being a work of God.”

The Irish artist recently participated in the restoration of the chapel in the Irish embassy to the Holy See. Here she shares with ZENIT some reflections on her profession and its mission. (more)

Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture
Volume 12, Number 4, Fall 2009

An Interview with Artist Breda Catherine Ennis Sean Patrick Lovett

Breda Catherine Ennis was born in Dublin. She now lives in Italy where she studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, the Calcografia Nazionale, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. For twenty-one years she has worked at the American University of Rome (where she is associate professor of fine arts and has her studio). She is considered Ireland’s leading artist in Italy and has given over forty-five exhibitions in different countries, and has works in several museums and private collections. She regularly collaborates with Vatican Radio on the analysis of paintings and church interiors in Rome, and has written for several journals including The Journal of Sacred Architecture. She has also studied the cultural patrimony of the Church at the Pontifical Gregorian University.1 How important is the Catholic faith for you and your work? I cannot conceive of my life without the Catholic faith. It is as essential to me as life itself. I always feel the guiding hand of the Father in my… (more)